What happens when the subject of your documentary is killed and your film is used as evidence at a controversial death penalty trial? You make a movie about it.
NO TOMORROW will be airing on television this fall. Watch the trailer in the meantime. We will also be showing the movie on Thursday, June 17 at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theatre in New York, with festival screening dates to follow.
NO TOMORROW investigates the murder of Risa Bejarano, the principal subject of our recent film, AGING OUT, about teenagers leaving foster care. NO TOMORROW explores how our film about Risas last year of life unexpectedly became the centerpiece of a chilling death penalty trial.
This unusual documentary covers the trials most dramatic moments in Judge Lance Itos courtroom in Los Angeles, including a heated debate over the prosecutors use of AGING OUT to persuade the jury to impose the death penalty. While the trial focuses on whether Risas murderer deserves to die,
several leading death penalty experts address the broader question of whether the state deserves to kill him. Ultimately, the unique film-within-a-film perspective of NO TOMORROW takes viewers inside a suspenseful death penalty trial and challenges their beliefs about capital punishment.
After Risa Bejaranos murder we sent the homicide detective a copy of AGING OUT, because the detective thought that our film about Risas last year of life might help him solve this brutal crime. After the alleged killer, Juan Chavez, was apprehended, the District Attorney also requested a DVD.
At first we were happy that our film could speak for Risa and give her a voice in the trial, but when the prosecutor decided to seek the death penalty, we became increasingly ambivalent. As filmmakers who knew and loved Risa Bejarano, we wanted her murderer to be severely punished, but weve
always been morally opposed to the death penalty.
Our misgivings about the use of our documentary were heightened by the prosecutors manipulation of the film in his closing argument. He reedited
AGING OUT, using audio clips of Chavez bragging in jail over images of Risas happiest moments and achievements. He then ended his reedited version of AGING OUT with a crime scene photograph of Risas bloody body, leaving the jurors with what they described as one of the most powerful and emotional moments of the trial.
In addition to the film-within-a-film phenomena, what distinguishes NO TOMORROW from other death penalty films is the fact that the defendant is not sympathetic and his guilt is not called into question. In essence, viewers are placed in the same position as the jury and are forced to assess the death penalty after being presented with a portrayal of the perpetrator as a monster and the victim as a model student who was admirably struggling to build a successful life.
Its easy to be against the death penalty when there is doubt about culpability, but we believe that NO TOMORROW will make viewers question the death penalty even in cases like the Chavez case - and the majority of capital
murder cases - where the defendant is neither sympathetic nor plausibly innocent. Although some viewers may still feel that capital punishment is a legitimate emotional response to the most heinous crimes, NO TOMORROW will make them think twice about whether the death penalty is too
imperfect, arbitrary, discriminatory, and costly to be a legitimate public policy.
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Aging Out.short version and commentary. Part 1by jimcaseyyoi939 views
I knew Risa :( she was my friend in middle school... :(
carellano85 6 months ago
When i first saw this movie which was about a month ago I had never heard of aging out or Risa Bejerano. But when i heard the story of what this girl went through and how all she wished was to get ahead in life after doing it all alone since she was little, it tore me up inside when they showed that she was murdered. A good person like her a person that didn't do anything to anyone. I am not violent but when i see someone do something like that to a good person, it makes you rage like a devil.
arnica7 10 months ago
ive been trying to find aging out forever..
MizzyTheQueen 11 months ago
What High School did she go to???
ruth861 1 year ago
I saw tis several times last nite.I had a feeling when I saw the previews that would make me cry and sure enough,it did. I've seen documents on murders before but this one is so personalized.She tried so had despite her past. So much to look forward to only to have her life snuffed out.
charlenemonique1 1 year ago
Thank you for uploading! :)
Lauratkd1 1 year ago